The Absolute Tools!
Why did the Goa Police wait a year to register Adv Carlos complaint? Was the ED expecting a red carpet at a Goa casino? and a cop falls for the oldest trick in the book. This and more in this edition.
Hi folks,
Welcome to what I expect will probably be the last edition of this newsletter for this year. The reason why I say ‘probably’ is because I ‘intend’ to take a two-week hiatus over the Christmas and New Year period. But then things do not always play out as intended, and as such it is very possible that something interesting will happen between now and the new year that might prompt the urge to say something.
If not, then allow me to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May this festive season bring much goodness and cheer to you and your loved ones, wherever in the world and in whatever situation you may be in.
The week gone by is a perfect example of how things can quickly turn around. What began as a slow-paced week—which tends to happen in Goa as the year enters its final weeks—and then bam! Suddenly there’s a suspect escaping from custody, a team from the ED being treated with contempt, and all of a sudden there’s much to talk about. So let’s get right to it.
The Absolute Tools!
If you are familiar with American slang, you probably know that if someone calls you an “absolute tool,” he’s certainly not referring to you as someone useful, resourceful, instrumental, or effective.
So, who am I calling an absolute tool?
You will have heard of the so-called sex scandal that recently made news in the state. It broke when a 26-year-old native of Odisha by the name of Kukesh Rauta was arrested by the Goa Police for allegedly attempting to extort an unnamed Goa MLA by morphing imagery he clandestinely recorded during a video call with sexually obscene material from the internet and threatened to make it public in an attempt to extort ₹5 crore from the MLA.
The local unit of the BJP was soon all over the story, trying to make an issue out of it, demanding the resignation of the MLA, and holding a protest in front of the Congress office.
By now it is clear that the MLA in question is Congress MLA Adv. Carlos Alvares Ferreira, who filed the complaint and who is being targeted by the BJP.
You also probably know that the accused was granted bail by the judicial magistrate at Mapusa earlier this week at the first time of asking.
The real question in all this, however, isn’t the where, when, why, and how about what happened (I haven’t come across the video despite reports claiming it had gone ‘viral,’ either).
You see, Adv Ferreira had filed his complaint in December last year, specifically on December 5, 2023, alleging that the said Kukesh Rauta was trying to extort money from him, threatening to expose the video.
The offence and FIR were, however, registered only on December 2 this year, a whole year after the complaint was registered. The police, in their release to the media, carefully concealed when they received the complaint. (Though they did reveal that the offence dated back to 2023).
The real question is: What were the Goa Police doing for a whole year after the complaint was registered? And why did they suddenly wake up, register the offence, arrest the accused the same day, and go public with it two days later?
Did they leave an opposition MLA vulnerable to (s)extortion for a whole year before suddenly and strategically deciding to register the offence now?
It’s, quite unsurprisingly if you think about it, not the only instance where the police actions of going public with a year-old case have raised eyebrows.
A few days prior to the sextortion case, on November 24, the top brass of the Goa Police addressed a press conference to highlight a bunch of cases registered and being probed by the Economic Offences Cell that were registered in August of last year that involved one Myron Rodrigues and Deepali Parab, who allegedly duped gullible investors of around ₹23 crore combined.
Myron, who is alleged to have accumulated around ₹130 crore in ill-gotten gains since 2009, had already fled the country in July last year, even before the first of the 38 cases was filed against him.
Which brings up the question, why did the police bring it up now? They even conducted a raid at the now-empty premises of one of the companies allegedly involved in the scam, only to return empty-handed.
What has prompted the Goa Police to go public with year-old cases involving opposition MLAs or those connected to them? (The latter scam has people allegedly/formerly close to Vijai Sardesai named as co-accused in the case).
I can only try and speculate. The opposition, however, seems to have the answers. They have claimed that the cases are now being dragged into public view in a bid to counter and distract from the ‘cash-for-jobs’ scam that is currently making headlines.
But surely, there’s no substance in the opposition’s claims. I mean, given that there’s no political involvement in the cash for jobs scam, and the chief minister warned that he and his wife should file separate defamation cases against those dragging his name into the scam, surely there’s no reason for the politicians, who are clearly not involved in the cash for jobs scam, to use the police to hit back at the opposition. Right?
The Absolute Tools.
The Great Escape
It’s a plot straight out of a work of fiction. A prisoner seduces the guard charged with overseeing him with the promise of a bright future full of riches and/or a life together if they escape with all their worries left behind—only for the guard to be betrayed and left behind. The one that immediately comes to mind is Milady de Winter from “The Three Musketeers,” but I’m sure there are other more apt versions of the same plot throughout history and literature.
Which begs the question, how beguiled with the promise of ₹3 crore did constable Amit Naik have to be to agree to help notorious land-grabbing accused Siddique Khan, aka Suleman, escape from captivity and run off together? He quite literally fell for the oldest trick in the book.
Naik is now cooling his heels on the other side of the wrought iron bars, having seen not just the promised ₹3 crore evaporate into thin air, but also his job and whatever little standing he had in society.
As for Suleman, he resumes his game of cat and mouse with the police. Having successfully evaded the cops for the better part of the last five years, he emerged all the wiser, bloodied, but stronger now.
As for the Goa cops, they’re left with a massive egg on their face. Suleman was no ordinary criminal. He was quite literally a prized catch—one the police claimed to have used every trick in the book to apprehend—and has now slipped through their fingers. More than that, Suleman was a classic case for the Goa Police. It was his properties in Mapusa, built upon grabbed land, that were demolished by the Mapusa Municipal Council—with publicity provided by the Goa Police.
He’s outwitted them (for now), but surely this isn’t the last we’ve heard about this.
Every dog has his day
A raiding team of the Enforcement Directorate got pretty much what they deserved when they ‘raided’ an offshore casino establishment along the banks of the River Mandovi only to be treated like a bunch of criminals by the management and staff of the casino establishment.
According to several reports, the ED staff were ‘mistaken’ for conmen, confined, and treated with contempt, with the casino staff even calling the Panjim police station to deal with them.
As it turned out, they were the real deal, and there’s now a case at the Panjim police station against the casino manager for ‘obstructing the public servants from doing their duty.
All I can say is, when officers of a statutory law enforcement agency behave like the private henchmen of the people presently in power, should they really be complaining when they are treated as such?
That’s all I have for you this week. Hope you enjoyed reading this week’s edition and I’ll see you in the new year. Make sure you interact, comment or write in, should you have something, anything to say.
You are also welcome to write in with leads and tip-offs or anything that you think might be interesting enough to include here.
As always, please share and help spread the word.
Until next week, then. Tchau!
A great writeup